Director, Machine Learning Science

Overview

Expedia Group brands power global travel for everyone, everywhere. We design cutting-edge tech to make travel smoother and more memorable, and we create groundbreaking solutions for our partners. Our diverse, vibrant, and welcoming community is essential in driving our success.

To shape the future of travel, people must come first. Guided by our Values and Leadership Agreements, we foster an open culture where everyone belongs, differences are celebrated and know that when one of us wins, we all win.

We provide a full benefits package, including exciting travel perks, generous time-off, parental leave, a flexible work model (with some pretty cool offices), and career development resources, all to fuel our employees  passion for travel and ensure a rewarding career journey. We’re building a more open world. Join us.

This role sits within Expedia’s Traveler & Partner Service Platform (TPSP) Product & Technology organization, which builds the core capabilities and experiences that power customer service across the Expedia ecosystem. TPSP enables both travelers and partners to receive high-quality, efficient service through a combination of human support and AI-powered experiences.

We are looking for a highly influential science leader to own the strategy and roadmap for LLM-powered AI Agent servicing for Expedia travelers and partners, and build a strong science organization bringing in traditional ML based personalization skills along with Agentic AI skillsets within the servicing domain. This role will define and lead the transformation towards scalable, voice and chat based self-service experiences powered by AI agents—reducing customer effort while improving resolution speed, consistency, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency.

As a Director of Machine Learning Science, you will architect the long-term science vision for customer AI servicing, drive complex cross-functional execution, and represent this program with senior leadership. You will operate as an indispensable leader, shaping how agentic AI is designed, governed, measured, and scaled across TPSP.

• Lead the development and execution of machine learning strategies and solutions to address complex business challenges at organizational scale.
• Build a science organization that will operate across TPSP product groups driving traditional ML and Agentic AI innovation and best practices
• Guide and mentor teams in the design, implementation, and optimization of advanced machine learning models, algorithms, and data pipelines.
• Partner with product, engineering, and business leaders to define priorities and deliver ML-driven features that enhance customer and business outcomes.
• Oversee the safe integration and operation of AI/ML-enabled systems, ensuring robust performance, scalability, and compliance with best practices.
• Drive data-driven experimentation, leveraging statistical analysis and machine learning to inform strategic decisions and product evolution.
• Foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement by championing the adoption of AI/ML concepts, tools, and workflows across multiple domains.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field; or Equivalent related professional experience.
• 12+ years of relevant professional experience.
• Proven experience leading machine learning initiatives across service, multi-service, or organizational domains.
• Expertise in machine learning algorithms, statistical modeling, and AI system integration at scale.
• Strong technical aptitude with a track record of delivering production-grade AI/ML solutions.

• Demonstrated ability to architect and operationalize large-scale machine learning systems in a complex, distributed environment.
• Experience driving adoption of AI/ML best practices, including safe integration and ongoing optimization of AI-powered features.
• Track record of hiring, mentoring teams and fostering technical excellence in machine learning science.
• Advanced proficiency in data-driven experimentation, model performance monitoring, and AI/ML…